The Future of The World: 2020 Trends And New Players in The Field
If somebody had asked you 15 years ago, what apps would you like to have in your smartphone, what would you answer?
You’d probably stare at them with a confused look on your face and wouldn’t have been able to come up with a platform you’re already bored of today. Kevin Westcott, US telecommunications, media, and entertainment vice-chairman, Deloitte LLP, believes that we’re living in that exact moment today, “the next Renaissance” period:
„When we actually get [5G internet and edge computing] in the hands of these very creative and innovative people, they’re gonna invent things that we haven’t even considered today.”- He says in User Friendly’s Podcast’s series.
Before we wait for the mass adoption of these systems, “these innovative and creative people” are already getting ready for the next technological revolution.
Augmented and virtual realities, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and business ecosystems are the five trending directions we’re going to discuss in this article. We will introduce the main goals of these industries, their statistical data, and exciting startups in the field.
1. Augmented and Virtual realities (AR/VR)
Our everyday life is going to change drastically in the upcoming years. That change will be most visible, probably due to the advancements in Augmented and Virtual realities.
Entertainment, real estate, healthcare, education, production… Coming back to Westcott’s words, it’s hard even to imagine how our work and learning environments are going to advance thanks to the AR/VR industry.
The total value of startups in this space was 45 Billion dollars on paper in 2019. The investors already got 8 Billion dollars back from the M&A phase.
According to the article by Venturebeat, one of the seven habits of successful AR/VR startups is to solve critical problems. In general, a successful business idea serves one of the two main goals: to solve a problem or to create additional comfort. And, the leader startups of this industry fall into the first category.
Interesting startups
- Streem is an AR company that uses computer vision and machine learning to enable tech support via a video call. The system helps tech support service providers easily detect a problem by having the client point the video camera at the broken device. Most of the time, this eliminates the need for the support team to show up on the spot. So much so that the application has decreased the need for on-spot support by 42%. Imagine how much these companies have saved!
- Just as exciting is another AR/VR company called Zspace. They provide schools with special laptops and VR headsets that make you feel like you’re holding hearts and lungs with bare hands in anatomy classes and Mars and Jupiter in astronomy.
- Earlier, we only encountered the practice of mind-reading in science fiction works. Today this has become a reality: The startup Neurable produces headsets that consist of a virtual reality device and a cap with electroencephalography sensors. They enable the hardware to detect brain signals and fulfill commands that haven’t been spoken but simply thought of.
If you’re thinking of building a startup in the field of AR/VR, this article will help you better understand your idea and find a well-fitted industry for it.
2. Internet of Things (IoT)
A smart toaster that prints an image of your choice on a loaf of bread; a bottle that buzzes and lights up to remind you to drink water; a belt that monitors your health — the list of funny and little weird smart gadgets is endless, and they are very much appreciated by their users too. But the potential of the IoT industry certainly doesn’t end here.
Just like AR/VR, IoT is quite appealing both for end-users and for companies. Monitoring different objects and controlling them remotely, drastically decreases the time wasted on such processes and the number of errors during it. It also enables us to collect information on various risk-factors with higher precision than ever.
According to Statista, Back in 2017, the IoT industry revenue reached 100 Billion dollars. By 2025 it is expected that the amount will reach 1.6 Trillion dollars.
The end-goal of this industry is to create smart cities, which means that on every step on our way, intelligent devices will be at our service, simplifying our everyday activities all-the-more.
Obviously, the more the IoT industry grows, the more concerns are raised around it. The problem needs yet to be solved, but many specialists are already working hard on the matter.
Interesting startups
- Iguazio “automates the machine learning pipeline” by allowing data scientists to take the data collected from different sources and use it directly to test and produce machine learning models in one system. Iguazio is used for industrial IoT, smart mobility, and telecommunications. The company is already working with such tech-giants as NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google.
- Oriented on micro-factories, Bright Machines works on the automation of production. It’s one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry: in just a year from 2018, it brought in 400 new employees. The startup is run by former representatives of such companies as Autodesk, Amazon, and Flextronics.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Today AI is used by almost every advanced tech company. It belongs to those technologies whose use-cases are merely limitless. While 31.6% of telecommunication organizations prefer to stick to existing technological infrastructure, 63.5% of the organizations invest in AI systems. Network optimization, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), virtual assistants, and predictive analytics are the main directions turned head over heels thanks to AI.
There are many speculations around this technology, and many are already saying that AI is not as developed as most people assume it is. Nevertheless, its abilities are still quite impressive, and it is evolving as we speak.
According to Statista, in 2018, the AI market revenue was 10.1 Billion dollars. By 2025 the amount is expected to reach 126 Billion. As for the startups, CBINSIGHTS reports that more than 3.6 thousand AI startups have received 66 Billion dollars in funding since 2013.
Interesting startups
- A data-driven marketing language cloud startup Persado analyses conversation of their client company’s users. “Imagine having a data scientist and a copywriter for every one of your audience.” — We read in the company description.
- Wint startup tracks damages in water pipes and stops the water flow in that direction. The platform is compliant with the building management system and works on the cloud for more efficiency.
4. Cybersecurity
The more we adopt the digital space, and the more closely connected these platforms (or things) become, the more attacks on our valuable data. One of the main problems of today’s technologies is security. To have a better picture of how insecure our information is becoming, in 2018, hackers stole half a billion data, which is a 126% increase compared to the previous year.
What will happen if our data ends in the wrong hands? What will happen if someone else gets control over our smart home? The more ambiguous the answers to such questions are, the more frightening they become.
The development of cybersecurity systems follows any kind of technological advancement. If the system is not secure, then it brings more risks than benefits. That is why the size of this sector is increasing day by day:
In 2017 the cybersecurity market size was 137.62 Billion dollars. By 2023 it is predicted that this amount will reach 248.6 Billion dollars.
Interesting startups:
- Kentik’s innovative solution provides the means to find errors during the creation and implementation of the security strategy of network intelligence platforms. This enables companies to detect weak points early on and minimize the risks of cyberattacks.
- A startup that was created to protect the nuclear launch codes is now used broadly in the cloud, mobile, and IoT industries. Secret Double Octopus eliminates the need for passwords and digital keys: through secret shared algorithms, it effectively protects the information needed for breaking into a system.
5. Business ecosystem: Cooperation for preserving competitiveness
The tech industry’s different directions are coming closer and closer to one another, and one can even say that they can’t evolve any further without each other.
We are already used to partnerships of seemingly competitive companies and acquisitions of small startups by industry leaders. This has its reasons: Today’s technological systems or devices consist of many (and quite complex) necessary but separate details. For example, AR/VR technologies depend on AI, cloud service providers need 5G internet, and IoT, well, IoT needs everything. The leading companies know far too well that to preserve competitiveness, they have to rely on cooperation.
According to Accenture, business ecosystems could potentially unlock 100 Trillion Dollars of value over the next decade! The communications sector is actively involved in this process: 83% of the industry leaders note that business ecosystems hold an essential part in their development strategies.
If you’re interested in this concept, this article will provide you with more detailed information. It will also help you figure out how big a part business ecosystem should play in your growth strategy.
Originally published on MediaLab, a Georgian tech startup incubator.
